Any potential move by Butland would also be in the interest of Wolves’ Midlands rivals Birmingham City.

Blues parted with their academy product for just £3.5m in the January window of 2013, and Stoke have been the beneficiaries of some impressive performances since.

Blues, though, now under the guidance of Garry Monk, are believed to have had a sell-on clause in Butland’s deal worth around 25% of whatever profit is made.

A price tag as much as £30m for Butland has been touted previously.

Further reading

Wolverhampton Wanderers have been linked with a move for Josef De Souza - the man who so very nearly moved to the West Midlands last summer.

Wolves are putting together preparations for their returning campaign to the Premier League and attributed ‘interest’ in a countless number of players has already been publicised around Europe.

The latest name is that of De Souza, who almost made the move to rivals West Bromwich Albion last summer, reports from Turkey (via Sport Witness ) are suggesting.

De Souza was the subject of an offer of just under £11m by the Baggies in the summer transfer window last year, only for the club to pull out of the deal when they discovered they could snap up Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak instead.

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Upon learning the news that his Premier League dream had been denied, de Souza is said to have cried in front of club president Aziz Yildirim when informed that Albion had ended negotiations.

De Souza, 29, scored three times in 33 appearances for Turkish outfit Fenerbahce last season - a club he’s made over 100 appearances for since arriving from Porto in the summer of 2015.

Wolves, who have still to make a decision over the purchase of loanee Alfred N’Diaye, are looking for extra cover in midfield with only Romain Saiss and Ruben Neves as the club’s two senior, permanent players in that department.